A Little Christmas Cheer
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Holidays after the failure of the Kerberous mission isn't something Keith looked forward to.


_Disclaimer – I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender. This was written for the December 2016 Wattpad prompt for thefiction awards where the theme was the first day of holidays._

 **A Little Christmas Cheer**

 _Everything_ was finished. _Everything_ was ended.

Of course, the cacophonous sound of the garrison students didn't stop and only increased when one of the teachers got onto the sound system announcing the start of the holiday break. Keith stood up, attempting to block out everyone and everything that wasn't _everything_ , shoving his hands into the pants of his uniform, ignoring the other teens milling about the desks, gossiping about their holiday plans.

At least this proved a break from the other students gossiping about _everything_ , about how the Kerberos mission failed because of pilot error, or because of one Takashi Shirogane. However, someone ended up finding some way to tie this into the onset of the holidays. "I kind of feel bad for the Holts, what with the fact they lost a father and brother, you know."

"What about Shirogane's family."

"I don't know. Does his family even deserve pity? He's the reason the Holts are dead. Does anyone care?"

One of Keith's hand shoved his desk roughly, attempting to keep his temper, before sliding back into his pants pocket. His mouth pushed together, frustrated at the way the other students kept finding ways to gossip about Shiro. One of the other students muttered something about "emotionally unstable" before he slipped from the room, the teen's dark eyes glued to the floor. His mind tried blocking out the other students, physically flinching when something white floated towards his shoe.

Keith's head darted up, his eyes widening as icy flakes floated through the air from one of the science labs. The rather obnoxious cargo pilot stood in the room forming a snowball while his rather large companion looked on in worry. "Lance… I don't think this is a good idea."

"Come on Hunk. What can go wrong?" The thin teen noticed Keith and called out. "Hey! Kagone! Challenge you to a snowball fight."

Ignoring the two, Keith attempted to return to the task of returning home, only for something cold and wet to hit him in the back of his head, sliding down the back of his uniform shirt. His eye twitched, and he saw red. The next thing he knew, the garrison commander was informing him that he'd somehow managed to knock the annoying cargo pilot out cold.

"I was trying to avoid getting into trouble. I've been into many fights of late." Keith's eyes remained focused on the edge of the desk, rather than looking Commander Iverson in the eye.

"Donkey, I'd rather see you in here for turning the science lab into winter wonderland then another fight. Do you hear me Cadet Kagone?"

"Loud and clear." The teen's breath came out hard.

"Do you also understand how lucky you are? If this were a normal high school, you'd have washed out by now with that middle school record of yours. You're also lucky, donkey, that the only thing keeping you from getting suspended this time is the fact we _don't_ want to extend your holiday."

"Oh? It doesn't have to do with the fact my older brother's Takashi Shirogane, and that I am, despite the fact my last name is Kagone, a member of the Shirogane family, and you're attempting to kiss up to…"

The commander's hand slammed down, making Keith jump. "Enough cadet. Get your but home. The report I have to file to your grandfather is bad enough as it is, donkey."

"Whatever." Keith stood up, nearly knocking the chair over, before leaving the room. The bus ride home seemed empty, but even more so did the yard of the house he used to share with his older brother. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other houses decorated with Christmas lights and decorations, an activity Shiro had forced him into participating in. Blank were the walls, empty was the home.

The fact they were blank was a good thing, for at one point they were marred with graffiti badmouthing Takashi Shirogane for the failed mission.

Keith walked up the path, stopping at seeing a box and a meal waiting for him at the front door, his fingers clenching at the sight of "to Keith" on the note. His stomach lurched, wondering what the intentions of the person were. The teen unlocked the door, his dark eyes narrowing at the blinking light on the answering machine, knowing the messages were all filled with hate directed at Shiro. By having a full machine, no more messages could come in, and eventually, people got bored.

Lifting up the box and meal, he closed the door behind him, letting it shut behind him, somehow managing to lock the door with his hand. He headed into the kitchen, planning on dumping the box and meal into the trash, but stopping to look at the letter. Setting down the items, Keith picked up the letter, opening it up, only for his legs to buckle upon seeing who it was from.

Mrs. Holt…

Keith sat on the floor, a range of emotions washing over him, his teeth gritting in anger. " _I do NOT want her pity!_ "

His fingers made to tear the note apart, only to stop short upon reading the first words of the letter.

" _I don't blame you._ "

A shudder ran down Keith's spine, but his eyes started to take in the rest of the letter.

" _I don't blame you. That's the first thing I want you to know. The second thing is that I don't blame your older brother. I'm an adult, so I know better than to listen to other people. While it is true that the official reports state the mission failed because of pilot error, my husband would not have picked just any pilot for any of his missions. He picked the best. So, if something went wrong, it had to have been something out of any of their control._ _I don't blame Shiro at all._ "

Keith saw a few tears fall onto the paper, his entire body shaking, this time for a different reason then anger.

" _You're older brother was also good friends with my son, so I'm also aware of your situation, and that you're alone by yourself for the holidays. I know full well that you can care for yourself and are independent, but I wanted to do something so that things don't feel so empty this holiday, and knew today was when you started your break from the Garrison for the school holiday. I'd like to wish you a merry Christmas, or even a happy holidays, but I think that wouldn't seem true to either one of us. Take care._ "

Suddenly, the words emotionally unstable felt apt to describe himself, and yet something felt a tad different. Keith finally calmed down, and stood up, putting the meal into reheat like Mrs. Holt instructed, before opening the box to reveal cookies and a gift. Apparently, her daughter liked peanut butter cookies, so those were included with the holiday menagerie. A smile flickered across Keith's face as he tried fathoming everything.

 _Nothing_ was finished. _Nothing_ was ended. _Everything_ felt someone like a new beginning, even if the feeling would go away once he was stuck in the routine of going to school again.


End file.
